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Following a previous missions trip to Vanuatu when outreach meetings were held and many age including the villager chief came to a saving faith in Jesus Christ, a relationship has been established between the mission team members of the Shellharbour Community Church and the village of Olan Nambuga, which is essentially a slum area only 10 minutes away from the centre of Port Vila in Vanuatu. The living standards for most people in the village are quite low and unemployment is high. Many children can’t afford to go to the regular schools.

Desiring to further this relationship in a practical way, a team of 10 people from the INC church at Shellharbour ages ranging from 16 to 70 followed up with another visit in July 2017. The aim of the visit was to build a marketplace in the village. The vision is that this market would bring tourism, provide employment, create a central space for purchasing goods for those in the village and would create income that will send local children to school.

According to team members Rachel and David Imisides : “ God really took care of the team over the trip and we saw His hand in so many things! God led us to unexpected ministry and missions opportunities. The team worked very hard over very long hours and the market place went up successfully in just 6 days! We built an open market, an office and a store room. The villagers were so pleased with the market and many of them expressed what a difference it would make in their community.”

God opened up an opportunity for the three women in the team to start a Scabies Clinic in the village. Many children in the village are affected by this horribly uncomfortable disease that leads to open sores on different parts of the body. Over 50 children and adults were treated as well as teaching them some basic health principles such as the importance of cleaning and covering wounds to avoid infection and much improvement in the patients.

The medical equipment was left with a local teacher who will continue the work. Rachel writes, “We also had a language student on our team who was able to translate into the local language the process for treating the disease. They were so impressed by the accuracy of the translation! We put the poster up around the village to facilitate ongoing treatment of the disease. We are hoping and praying it will make a big impact in the village.”

Developing a servant heart was the theme of the day for the children at the Gateway INC church at Nasinu. Washing each other’s feet was part of the lesson. Several weeks later it was learning about the armour of God.

Nasinu church has been the home of the Christian Outreach College in Fiji for the past 5 years, having spent 12 years at its previous venue at Nausori. Under the leadership of Ps Jona & Lucy Waqairagata, the College has produced many fine young Christian people. There are 117 students enrolled this year. They use the biblically based ACE curriculum purchased from Australia and in secondary years it is adapted to Australian or New Zealand programs in preparation for tertiary studies. Despite excellent results, they receive no funding from the government and the curriculum is barely covered by the school fees but God has provided in different ways over the years since the College started. This includes Lucy and her family coming to Australia in their holidays to earn money fruit-picking. The students have great opportunities to participate in conventions and sporting events against other children in the South Pacific. Great dedication to educating children to a high standard of Christian living is evident in their lives and in the church at Nasinu.

Tonga, previously known as the Friendly Isles is our smallest INC South Pacific nation and the furthest east. We only have one church there in the capitol city of Nuku’alofa. But in this isolated situation they have been blessed by help and encouragement from Fiji, Nowra in Australia and New Zealand over recent years.

Over the past months, there has been plenty of activity, when a team from City Church Nowra finally put the finishing touches to their church building by putting in the ceiling. Pastors Peni and Ma’ata Mafi were ready then to celebrate their Conference with visiting speakers Fiji National Chairman Pastor Sevuloni Cakau and his wife Iva and Pastor Jason Smith from Australia.

The Solomon Islands INC School of Ministries more commonly known as the Balasuna Bible College is in session again having commenced in early May. There are 24 students this year coming from different islands and provinces from the Solomon Islands who will be trained over a 4 month period for pastoral ministry under the leadership of Principals Pastor Leonard & Elizabeth Letana with the help of Pastor Frank Styles from Australia.

Since 1989, many pastors from the South Pacific nations have been trained as pastors of Christian Outreach Centre and the International Network of Churches. The college had to close down from 1999-2005 because of civil unrest but opened again in 2005 and has been training pastors from the Solomon Islands since then. The bulk of the lecturing is carried out by pastors from Australia who pay their way and give their time to bless and impart to the future pastors. Financial support, printed materials and fund-raising projects also come mostly from Australian churches and church members and we are grateful for whatever support we get.

WRITTEN BY MIN TOBITT, INC SOUTH PACIFIC

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